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What It's About
A higher education professional bedazzles with her Simple Designs jewelry hustle.
Words of Wisdom
Cristi share's some important advice, “Make sure you are not spending all your mental energy and time on your side hustle. Maintain balance and ensure you still enjoy it most of the time. Also, know how much time you spend on your side hustle, how much effort you put in, the cost of materials and overhead, and the standard pricing of similar businesses, so you can set your prices accordingly. Do not undervalue yourself or your work.”
Fun Fact
When she made her first sale, Cristi was helping out at the checkout counter, and it was a thrill watching a customer examine her pieces on display. When they finally chose a necklace and checked out, Cristi was giddy. She didn’t want the customer to know she had created the necklace they just purchased, so she tried to play it cool.
Notes from Chris
Episode 1375
Cristi Moore is a full-time talent development and e-learning specialist for a local university—as well as a mother of two—who finds space for “me time” by unwinding in front of Netflix with a soldering iron and some jeweler’s glue. Specifically, Cristi makes Bohemian chic jewelry with a minimalist aesthetic. This “me time” ritual earns her a nice profit. Plus, she enjoys getting to know individual customers so she can create meaningful, custom, and personalized jewelry pieces just for them. Cristi started creating her own jewelry because she couldn't find that one perfect piece that expressed who she was. She had an image in her mind of precisely what she wanted, but she couldn't find it. A few months after Cristi started making her own jewelry, her best friend opened a boutique and was looking for creators who would sell their items in her shop. This friend wanted to focus on handmade items, not imports from overseas factories or anything else made in bulk. Cristi was intrigued, so she launched her brand, Simple Designs, and started producing jewelry in her unique, “less is more” design. She opened an Etsy shop a couple years after she started selling at her friend’s boutique, and soon other local brick-and-mortar stores started stocking her creations. Simple Designs by Cristi now nets around $10,000 annually, and her style has maintained its no-frills simplicity. She loves a classic pair of studs, for example. But creating custom pieces is her favorite, including bold, beautiful statement pieces, like clay-beaded chokers, multi-strand back necklaces, and crystal earrings with a vintage feel. Her next goal is to teach herself how to create pavé diamond jewelry, a technique of drilling holes directly into the metal and laying diamonds into the holes like cobblestones. That will require a lot of learning, practice, and, of course, more tools and time. She’s excited to see how that goes.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Check out Cristi's beautiful creations at her Etsy store, SimpleDesignsOKC.
- Woman Uses Language Skills to Import Moroccan Jewelry: Knowledge of local culture—and an extended Moroccan family—help an IT manager set up a side business importing and selling jewelry.
- Brooklyn Publicist Designs Travel-Themed Jewelry Line: An unseasonably rainy Memorial Day yields an accidental side hustle.
- College Friends Design Millennial-Focused Jewelry: Two friends branch out from a family business, putting a unique shine on jewelry for a younger generation.
